Campos wants to know if housing developers discriminate against LGBT people — elsewhere

Supervisor David Campos announced legislation Monday that can only be construed as an attempt to put another feather in his “LGBT- and tenants-ally” cap: It would require large developers who want to build in San Francisco to detail whether they have a national anti-discrimination policy that includes gays and lesbians.

San Francisco and the state of California, of course, already prohibit any discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. But Campos, who is running against fellow supervisor David Chiu for a seat in the state Legislature, noted that national fair housing laws and the majority of states don’t protect the LGBT community from discrimination.

He said that 1 in 5 transgender people have been refused housing in the United States, 1 in 10 have been evicted because of their gender identity, and that a recent study by federal housing officials showed that same-sex couples are often discriminated against when they are looking for rental housing.

“We want to know whether a developer hoping to build in San Francisco is protecting LGBT housing rights when they own or manage housing in states where legal protections don’t exist,” he said in a written statement. “By collecting this information we can highlight best practices and urge those who do not have these policies to do the right thing.”